Newmai News Network
Aizawl | December 6
Mizoram state unit president of National People’s Party (NPP), Hmingdailova Khiangte on Friday dubbed the Centre’s move to exclude the Inner Line Permit and Sixth Scheduled areas of Northeast from the purview of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as a “safety valve”.
The entire Northeast has been witnessing massive protests against the Bill since last year.
Speaking to reporters at a press conferencein Aizawl on Friday, Khiangte said, "The Centre's move to keep the Inner Line Permit areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sixth Scheduled areas of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura out of the purview of the proposed legislation is nothing but an attempt to soothe the growing tension and avoid further problems in the Northeast region". The NPP leader also said that the Northeastern region is not entirely united against the bill because majority of the states are under the BJP rule.
He then rued that even Mizoram is not wholeheartedly united to oppose the proposed bill.
“The state government, civil society organisations and the people as a whole are not united. In spite of several efforts, we did not take any concrete measures to oppose the bill,” Khiangte added.
The Mizoram NPP leader then said that the manner in which the Centre is planning to implement the new law across the country is against the interest of the people of Northeast.
According to Khiangte, the NPP also passed a resolution opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on November 30, the day representatives of all political parties and NGOs from Mizoram met Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the proposed law.
Meanwhile, former Mizoram chief minister and state Congress president Lal Thanhawla blamed the Centre for approving the bill.
During a political session at Congress Bhavan here on Friday, Lal Thanhawla alleged that the BJP’s next move after Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is nothing but to introduce Uniform Civil Code in the country.
